Numb
Disclaimer All the characters and settings that are not mine belong to Rick Riordan. I apologize for any similarity with any stories you've read in the wiki or somewhere else, it's purely coincidental and I didn't mean to copy anything from you all (since I mostly made this up in my mind when I was in Bali....) Prologue The man's shady grey eyes stared uneasily at the brown-colored file in his hands. His salt and pepper hair was tucked inside his black military beret, which matched his black jacket. He glanced back at the clock before impatiently knocking his fist onto the table. Though the murderous look on his face that moment would make most people pee their pants, but he did actually smile a lot, as proven by the faint wrinkles around his eyes. Just not today. Not when twenty-three demigods were murdered. See, being the camp's war advisor had added the stress even more, and Chiron being in deep stress of seeing his students killed didn't help either. As to hearing the bell ring, he zipped his jacket, hiding the embarrassing orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. He quite liked it, actually, since it was comfortable and a bit stretchy, but let's put it this way. He'd rather go and battle Typhon on his own than show himself wearing it in public, not that he cared about how he looked. "You were looking for me, sir?" He looked up to find the door half-open, a figure standing behind it. "Ah, James. Just the person I want to meet." The man said, "sit, boy." The boy did as he was told and sat on the red plastic chair before the man. It was a bit shaky and old, but otherwise it was okay. The man threw the file onto the table, surprising the boy a little. "Read, boy. Every word of it." He said, fishing a pack of cigars out of the pocket on his jacket. The boy knitted his eyebrows. "Sir, I'm dys-" "It's in Ancient Greek." He cut him off, his voice slightly unclear of the cigar in his mouth. The man lit it up to the boy's dismay, but he continued reading, storing every single letter inside his brain. "Another one?" He asked, closing it and putting it on the table. The man sighed, smoke spewing out of his mouth. The boy coughed a little of the smoke entering his nostrils. "Oh, would you like one?" The man casually offered, throwing the pack towards him. "N-no, sir," he politely denied, "I don't really smoke." "Oh." The man snatched it and put it inside his pocket, "so, what do you think?" "The uh... Pattern seems to be similar, sir. A demigod, a stab wound," he concluded, "so I'm pretty sure it's the same as the other twenty-two." "Who do you think could've done such thing, boy?" The man sighed again, blowing the smoke out of his mouth. The boy pursed his lips. "T-the... N-no, it can't be," He murmured. "Tell, me." "T-the..." He gulped, "the titans, sir. I think they may be planning another revolution." "I thought so too." The man inhaled deeply and threw his still newly-used cigar into the ashtray, to the boy's relief. "What do we do now, then?" He asked, looking through the file once more. "I want you to get all the cabin leaders to send their best men to get all of the non-year rounders out there, and bring them here. Announce the news to everyone else, and tell all the tutors to intensify battle training. They're killing us, slowly, by killing all the powerful members. So we stay as a pack. Get the Hephaestus Cabin to make traps and weapons, seal the forges so nobody will distract them, and get Athena Cabin to gather in the Big House to discuss strategies with me and Chiron. Tell all the others to do whatever they can to protect this damn place, and send people to inform the gods in Olympus of this danger. Have I made myself clear?" He said, pounding his fist against the table. The boy gulped, but managed to choke out a small "yes." The boy exited the room in a hurry. The man sighed and leaned against his chair, eyes gazing at the ceiling, wondering which of his students was going to be murdered next. Chapter 1 The painful coldness of the night pierced through the thin layer of torn her black hood. She held out her hand at the crackling fire, feeling the tingling warmth crawl through her skin, before gazing back at the moon. Though most would say that the moon soothed them, she didn’t feel the same. There was just something so powerful, so dangerous from its gentle beams. She sighed and crawled back into the tiny cave opening. Somehow, the darkness, which would make most people call for momma, was calming to her. She suddenly remembered something, and her hands felt the soil around her. It was kind of soft, and she figured she’d be able to write something on it. She grabbed a jagged stone from the ground and closed her eyes, trying to remember her name. Funny, she didn’t even remember it, and yet she still remembered how to write and speak in sign. She quickly wrote everything she remembered, as if she was afraid they’d fly away like the rest of her memory. She ended up with a rather messy list, ranging from images she could find in her head up to food. Sighing, she gazed back at the twinkling stars before closing her eyes. Only twenty minutes earlier, she’d woken up, finding herself in a meadow that stretched kilometers away, and not knowing who she was. She managed to create fire through instinct-she had no idea where she got it, and even found herself a cozy little opening on an enormous jagged rock. A bit damp and wet, but still okay. She stared at the list she’d made. Piles of soil stretched along the strokes, making it slightly unclear, but hey, it was her handwriting, so she could read it with ease. Her eyebrows arched at the sight of a name. Phoebe. It sounded somewhat familiar, now that she’d looked at it again, but she couldn’t put her finger on who it was. Her name, perhaps? She couldn’t remember. Soon, thirst dried her throat. She got up and looked around for any possible water sources. And yet, after walking for quite a while, she couldn’t find any. Great. Now she was going to die of thirst, without knowing who the hell she was. She sighed and sat on the ground. Long, sharp grasses pricked her skin, but she didn’t seem to care. She was too exhausted. Suddenly, a rather strange sound emerged from the darkness, like something solid hitting… Water. Quickly she got up, her sharp ears trying to catch any similar sounds. Carefully she walked towards where she thought the voice came from. It was a bit darker, but she could see more clearly, strangely. Something in her mind told her to grab the dagger she’d got inside her pocket, and she did. The sound became clearer, and she kept walking confidently. Suddenly a strange flash of brown gleamed in the darkness. A boy, his brown hair wet and messy, stood next to what seemed like a not-so-big lake, his orange t-shirt soaked with water. Slightly blurred images flashed in her brain, depicting people dressed in the same clothing. Her brain was telling her to stay away for some reasons, but her throat was begging for water. She coughed a bit, throat turning dry, but decided it'd be better to listen to her brain. She looked around. Few trees stood mightily among the thin grasses, their leaves reflecting the light of the moon. The nearest one looked a bit old, its barks peeled. Quickly she made a powerful leap and hid, leaning against the rough trunk. Another sound of water splashing. She silently peeked, feeling her cheeks flush when seeing the boy neck-deep inside the water. His orange shirt lied next to the lake, unneatly folded, next to a glinting sword. The girl snapped out of it and hid back, heart pounding and still flushing. Footsteps. She felt her heart pounding harder against her chest. Was he leaving? "Ryan, what are you doing?" A feminine voice harshly asked. The girl gulped. More of them, not good. "I'm bathing, well duh?" He said, a playful smile reflecting in his voice. "Stop wasting time, you idiot. More demigods need to be picked up." The owner of the feminine voice started rambling about the importance of demigods-whatever those are- to the Western Civili-something, and how the gods wouldn't like their kids being killed. The hiding girl made a mental note to figure out what those strange vocabularies were later. "What are you waiting for?" She said again, raising her already high tone. The girl heard what seemed to be an exasperated sigh. "Fine." He said a bit naughtily, and water splashed in the distance. A shriek. "Y-you no-good kleptomaniac!" "Yeah, yeah Bird Brain." "Shut up!" The girl faintly smiled, amused, and stepped back closer to the tree. A crack. Her eyes widened, and she looked down to find a branch split in half. Silence hung in the air, and drops of nervous sweat dripped down her neck. "D-did you hear that?" The so-called Bird Brain whispered. Silence. "I guess we'd better check." The girl gulped. She knew she had to escape them, but how Bird Brain gestured silently for the boy to follow behind her, unsheathing a bronze dagger. The girl's heart pounded even harder. And she ran. She raced through the woods, the grasses crunching beneath her feet. She didn't dare turn around, the voice of hasty footsteps following behind her. She could escape this, she could... Suddenly, she tripped. She shrieked, feeling herself falling towards the ground. Too late, the two were right behind her. She growled and quickly unsheathed the dagger from the pocket of her trousers, hoping that they were just as helpless with weapons as she was. She dusted the dirt staining her trousers and stoood, biting her lip so hard they were drained of color. And they appeared, gazes sharp with cautiousness. The girl growled. "Who are you?" Bird Brain asked defensively. "None of your business." She replied in sign, forehead tucked into a scowl. "W-we're not enemies." The boy quickly added. The girl gritted her teeth, and slowly the boy dropped his dagger, clattering as it hit the ground. Bird Brain gasped. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She screamed, "SHE MIGHT BE DANGEROUS!" "I don't even know who I am!" She told them, glaring. Bird Brain rolled her eyes and muttered, "fine." She, too, dropped her dagger. The girl's expression softened. "How do you not know who you are?" Bird Brain asked. The girl shrugged, then told them she'd somehow lost her memories. The two pursed their lips in sympathy. "Can I trust you?" She suddenly asked. "Yeah," the boy smiled, stretching his hand out at her, "and your name is?" The girl shrugged once more. The two exchanged nervous looks before Bird Brain suddenly smiled. "For now, we'll call you," She announced, seemingly pleased with her choice, "Amanda." '''(A/N: ugh, can't think of any cliffhangers o.o)''' Chapter 2